The accidental discharge of crude oil into marine or fresh water environments if not effectively treated, results in oiling of the shoreline. Therefore, a number of techniques have been devised to minimize shoreline oiling resulting from such accidents when they occur.
One method for dealing with oil slicks on water is to treat the oil slick with the chemical dispersant which breaks the oil film into small droplets and disperses these droplets into the water column. It is a technique that is effective with light and medium crude oils, under optimum conditions of dispersant spraying and wave energy. Unfortunately, however, laboratory dispersant effectiveness testing has shown that viscous and waxy crudes are relatively more difficult to disperse than crudes with low viscosity and wax content. With the projected increase in traffic in the heavier and waxier crude oils there is a need for approved dispersants that are effective over a wide range of crudes encompassing light, medium and heavier waxy crudes.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide surface active compositions which are capable of dispersing a wide range of crudes.
Another object of the present invention is to provide dispersing compositions that are particularly suitable for dispersing heavy and waxy crudes.